NASA insignia patches

It may seem odd to include a section on NASA logo patches in a site dedicated to crew patches but the patch designs detailed
below were either worn by the crews on their actual spacesuits (for the Mercury and Gemini projects and for Apollo 1) or worn on their
flight suits immediately after the missions (from Apollo 7 onwards). To my mind this certainly makes them worthy of a place in any
serious space patch collection.

After studying the best images I could find of the patches used on the various missions it's clear that at least four different versions
of the classic "meatball" vector insignia design have been used during the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo period. I refer to these designs as Types I, II, III and IV, with a fifth type thrown-in for good measure.

I also briefly cover the "worm" logotype patch that was introduced at the time of the Shuttle program.

NASA Vector (aka "meatball") Patches

Patch id:

NASA Vector Patch - Type I

(Mercury Program : 1959-1963)

Worn by crew?

Yes. Worn by the Mercury astronauts on their space suits.

Flown?

Yes, on crew space suits.

Manufacturer:

Unknown.

Distribution:

Likely limited to NASA.

Dimensions:

Body approx. 3" / 75mm

Type:

Partially embroidered on blue twill. Stitched border with cut edge.

Scarcity:

Extremely rare. No examples sold in recent years.

Value:

The most recent unflown examples to be sold fetched between $511 and $1000.

Notes:

This white bordered NASA insignia patch is the version worn by the astronauts during the Mercury program, as can be seen in the closeup
photo details shown on the right.

This white bordered NASA insignia patch is the version worn by the astronauts during the Gemini program, as can be seen in the closeup
photo details shown on the right.

Although very similar in appearance to the Type I patch, this design can be distinguished by slightly less bold lettering. In addition,
where the Type I patch has an open V-shaped pattern of three stars under the right leg of the final "A" (pointing up to the right), the
Type II patch has a fourth star which turns it into a diamond shape.

An example of the Type II patch that was apparently taken from one of Gus Grissom's Gemini 3 space suits is shown here.
This scan was kindly provided by Mike Zolotorow.

Note that most examples of this patch have the top left corner of the final "A" bisected by the vector but a few have the vector
completely overlaying the top corner (leaving no white thread visible to the upper left) and slightly more bold lettering. You can
see this more clearly in this side-by-side image of patches sewn to James McDivitt's Gemini-era flight suits, from images kindly provided by
Dave Keeler. Another example of this variant was sold recently on eBay which had apparently been sent by the Gemini X crew as a gift.

Patch id:

NASA Vector Patch - Type III

(Early Apollos : 1966-1969)

Worn by crew?

Yes. Worn by the Apollo 1 astronauts on their space suits,
and by the Apollo 7, 8, 9 and 11 crews on their post-flight jump suits.

Flown?

No.

Manufacturer:

Unknown.

Distribution:

Likely limited to NASA.

Dimensions:

Body approx. 3" / 75mm

Type:

Partially embroidered on blue twill. Stitched border with cut edge.

Scarcity:

Extremely rare. No examples sold in recent years.

Value:

No examples to base valuation on.

Notes:

For Apollo 1 the NASA logo patch used by the crews on their space suits was the white-bordered version shown here. The same design was used by the crews of Apollos 7, 8, 9 and 11 on their post-flight jump suits. Note that the Apollo 9 crew in fact had
two different sets of jump suits, one with this patch and the other
with the blue-bordered Type IV patch.

Although very similar in appearance to the Type II patch, this design can be distinguished by the fact that the top of the last "A"
overlays the red vector, whereas in the earlier versions the red vector cuts through the top of the "A". The point of the vector is also
thicker in this version than the earlier ones. Finally, the serif on the letter "N" is much more pronounced, with the top left of the "N" almost reaching the left border.

For Apollo 10, 12, 14 and 15 the NASA logo patch used by the crews on their post-flight jump suits was the blue-bordered version shown here.

I had originally thought there was only one version of the blue-bordered NASA insignia patch
used by the Apollo crews but in fact there are two distinct versions which I now identify as Type IV (previously identified as blue bordered variant 2)
and Type V (the more common version).

The earliest appearance of the first version of the patch is probably
in S68-46603 & 68H-730,
which show the Apollo 7 crew in training in August 1968. Cunningham wears a blue bordered Type IV patch
on his jump suit while the other two have the white bordered Type III patches.

Another early appearance is on the Apollo 8 recovery ship in December 1968. Photo
68-H-1415
shows Jim Lovell with astronaut Mike Collins who is wearing a blue-bordered Type IV patch
on his jump suit.

The Type IV patch was worn by the Apollo 9 crew on one of the sets of blue flight suits
they wore on the U.S.S. Guadalcanal at events after the recovery. The other set of flight suits
had the white-bordered Type III patches.

The Type IV patch also appears to be the version worn by the Apollo 10 crew after that flight and
is clearly identifiable on the flight suits worn by the Apollo 12 crew in quarantine, and
on Roosa's flight suit after Apollo 14. Mitchell's patch is not clearly visible in the Apollo 14 photos I have and
Shepard wore a white border patch on his flight suit (possibly a Type II Gemini-era version) as shown in
KSC-71P-168.

High res images show that the Apollo 15 crew (at least Scott and Worden) also wore the Type IV patch, but on Apollo 13, 16 and 17 the
crews wore the type V patches.

One of these patches, described as having been flown aboard Gemini 12, was sold at auction in 2007 by a relative of Buzz Aldrin.
Whilst the Gemini 12 flown status is questionable it certainly seems likely to have come from Aldrin. The patch appears to have been removed
from a garment, and may possibly have been used on a blue flight suit by Aldrin.

Patch id:

NASA Vector Patch - Type V

(Later Apollos : 1970-1972)

Worn by crew?

Yes. Worn by the Apollo 13, 16 and 17 crews on their post-flight jump suits.

For Apollo 13 and Apollos 16 and 17 the NASA logo patch used by the crews on their post-flight jump suits was the blue-bordered version shown here.

Although very similar in appearance to the Type IV patch the Type V version can be differentiated by the much bolder large stars.
The small star beneath the top-most large star is also displaced more to the right in this version and
the two small stars inside the upper left end of the orbital ellipse are more widely separated.

This is the blue bordered patch that was apparently sold commercially by AB Emblem. Early cloth back
versions of the commercial patch are thus the same as those worn by the later Apollo crews.

It should be noted that Jack Swigert wore a white border patch on his post-recovery flight suit as shown in
70-H-0641
, although he also wore a second suit with a Type V blue border patch that is visible in other post-recovery photos.

NASA Vector Patches used at the Dryden Flight Research Center

Although this site is concerned mainly with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo projects, NASA research pilots at the Dryden Flight Research Center also
wore NASA vector logo patches at times and it is interesting to include these vintage patches here.

From the available photographic evidence[Annex]
it appears that at least two different vector patch designs were worn by NASA's research pilots from about 1960 onwards.

These two different patches are clearly shown in the photo on the right, taken in 1966 after the first flight of the HL-10.
Bruce Peterson's flight suit has a large (roughly 4") NASA
vector patch on the chest and a smaller (roughly 3") version on the shoulder.

These two patch designs do not match those used on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, but are consistent
in all appearances of the NASA vector patch at the DFRC in photos from 1960 through to at least 1972. The distinctive pattern of stars on
the two sizes of DFRC patch is very similar, making it likely that the same manufacturer produced both designs for NASA.
I've decided to refer to these designs (at least for now) as DFRC 4" and DFRC 3".

The 4" diameter NASA vector patch worn by Neil Armstrong on his flight suit during his second X-15 flight on Dec 9, 1960 is visible
in this photo.

Armstrong wore the same patch on his white flight suit during a flight of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle in June 1969,
as visible in
photos and film taken at the time.

A
variant
of this patch design with slightly narrower lettering, but with an identical pattern of stars, appears to
have been introduced by 1966 and can be seen as the larger of the two patches
worn by Bruce Peterson on his HL-10 flight suit in the photo at the start of this section. The version with narrower lettering
can be seen on the suits of various NASA research pilots in photos through to at least 1972[Annex].

These two variants may be analogous with the Type I and II vector patches used on the Mercury and Gemini programs respectively,
where the earliest patch (1959-1963) had thicker lettering and the later version (1964-1966) narrower lettering.

Note that very similar-looking later versions of this patch exist with plastic coatings on the reverse, as noted in the Other Patches section below,
so collectors need to be wary when looking to buy one of the extremely rare original patches.

This 3" diameter NASA vector patch was worn by Bruce Peterson on his shoulder in the 1966 photo above, as well as
by John B. McKay in the photo from 1962 shown on the right.

According to Dryden historian Peter Merlin, examples of this particular patch were given to NASA personnel assigned
to the X-15 project at Dryden in March 1960. X-15 personnel can be seen wearing the patch on their hats in photo
E-6460. One of these
hats, complete with its original patch, can be seen in
this photo, courtesy of Peter Merlin.

It appears that the example shown in my scan has broader writing that the versions shown in most of the photos, so perhaps as
with the 4" version there are at two variants with narrower and broader lettering. The layout of stars and all other details appear
to be identical.

NASA "Worm" Logotype Patch

In 1975, NASA replaced the classic "meatball" vector insignia design with a new 'modern' logotype design that
was commonly referred to as the "worm".

The Apollo-Soyuz crew were the first to use this new logotype insignia but only wore it in beta cloth form.

However, on the Shuttle flights the astronauts wore embroidered "worm" logotype patches on their flight suits, as can be seen
on STS-1 Commander John Young's flight suit in the photo on the right.

Between the ASTP mission in 1975 and the first Shuttle space flight in 1981
a couple of different embroidered versions of the "worm" logotype were used as detailed below.

Patch id:

Blue on white NASA "worm" logotype patch (1977 onwards)

Worn by crew?

Yes, by the ALT crews.

Flown?

On ALT.

Manufacturer:

Unknown

Distribution:

Unknown

Dimensions:

Unknown

Type:

Partially embroidered on blue cloth?

Scarcity:

Unknown

Value:

Unknown

Notes:

The first appearance of an embroidered version of the "worm" logotype insignia seems to be that
worn in 1977 by the Shuttle ALT (Approach and Landing Test) crews on their dark blue flight suits,
as shown in the photo on the right.

The patch appears to be executed in white thread on blue cloth rather than having an embroidered background.

The same style of patch can be seen used on dark blue flight suits in various later photos,
including in some images of the Group 8 astronauts in 1978, and in the official STS-8 crew portrait
(the close-up image of the patch above is from this photo).

Patch id:

Early NASA "worm" logotype patch (1978)

Worn by crew?

Yes, for some 1978 portrait photos.

Flown?

No.

Manufacturer:

Unknown

Distribution:

Unknown

Dimensions:

Unknown

Type:

Fully embroidered. Merrowed edge.

Scarcity:

Unknown

Value:

Unknown

Notes:

Executed in red thread on a white background, this square-cornered version of the "worm" logotype patch
was worn on the dark blue
flight suits of many of NASA's Group 8 astronauts in their 1978 individual
portraits, as shown
in Guion Bluford's portrait image on the right.

However, by the time the more senior astronauts had their Shuttle-era portraits taken in 1979 it
had been replaced by the Lion Brothers version.

This early version of the "worm" patch was not worn on any Shuttle flights.

Although many versions of the red on white NASA "worm" logo patch exist, the 'definitive' version worn by
the Shuttle astronauts during the missions themselves (from STS-1 through to at least STS-51L) is quite specific and surprisingly rare.

The patch can be identified by a distinctive vertically-ribbed fill pattern in the white background where the more
common AB Emblem version of the patch has a regular fill pattern without any ribbing.

This patch was apparently manufactured by Lion Brothers, although why NASA chose not to use
their official patch supplier to produce this one patch is
something of a mystery.

The fact that this patch is so scarce implies that it was probably not made available commercially and was only supplied directly to NASA.

This smaller white-bordered version of the NASA vector patch is
clearly visible in
this photo on suit tech Joe Schmitt's hat during suiting-up activities prior to the Apollo 11 launch.

AWhat appears to be a
similar patch is also visible on
Jim McDivitt's coveralls in a NASA publicity film made prior to the launch of Apollo 9. The image is not very clear but
the fine details look a little different from the version shown above.

I believe this patch was produced by Universal Commemorative of Los Angeles, CA, since I've seen it sold with their Apollo 11 and 12 patches several times.

My thanks to Peter Merlin
for pointing out that this patch was used by
the crew of Ironman One in the 1969 movie Marooned.

Patch id:

White-bordered variant 1b

Worn by crew?

No.

Flown?

No.

Manufacturer:

Unknown

Distribution:

Unknown

Dimensions:

Body 2½" / 65mm

Type:

Fully embroidered. Merrowed edge.

Scarcity:

Uncommon.

Value:

Unknown.

Notes:

Although at first glance this patch looks almost identical to the white-bordered variant 1 patch above it is actually
significantly smaller in size and also has slightly narrower fonts with less prominent serifs.

A white-bordered patch vintage patch which doesn't match any of the known crew versions. It is most similar to the DFRC 3" patch but the lettering is much skinnier than that visible in photos and the pattern of stars is subtly different. Image courtesy of Ron Goode.

An example of this white-bordered patch came from the collection of a North American Aviation employee who worked on the Apollo project. The
pattern of stars is quite distinct from any other white bordered variant.

The patch can also be seen in NASA photo 69p-648 which shows NASA biomed space engineer Judy Sullivan
wearing one of these patches during the Apollo 11 suit-up operation.

The design for this modern patch has clearly been copied directly from the original 4" Dryden patch. The modern version
has a slick plastic backing and much sharper details as is typical of modern patches.

This patch has the same design as the original 4" Dryden patch but the body measures 3¾" in diameter instead of 4".
The patch has a slick plastic coating on the reverse which makes it a modern version (late '70s at the earliest).
Despite the size difference and the coated back the overall look
of this patch is much closer to that of the vintage original 4" patches than the replica version shown on the left.

Patch id:

Flight Research Center patch

Worn by crew?

Yes, this patch was worn by at least some NASA
test pilots in the mid 70s as visible here.

Flown?

Likely flown on flight suits during some test flights.

Manufacturer:

Unknown

Distribution:

Likely restricted to NASA personnel.

Dimensions:

5" / 122mm

Type:

Partially embroidered on blue twill. Stitched border with cut edge.

Scarcity:

Extremely rare in original bare back form.

Value:

Unknown.

Notes:

This unusual Flight Research Center version of the NASA insignia is extremely rare in its original form, but a very convincing
modern replica exists.

This blue-bordered patch is similar to the Type IV but has
extra stars in the lower left quadrant. An example was found
recently which was apparently part of a set of patches distributed
to collectors by AB Emblem in the early 70s. Also part of the set was a Type V meatball emblem.

This would maybe make it a later variant of Type IV or perhaps AB's first version of the
vector patch. Either way it does not appear to have been used by any of the crews.

Patch id:

Blue-bordered variant 3

Worn by crew?

No.

Flown?

No.

Manufacturer:

Unknown

Distribution:

Unknown

Dimensions:

Body 2¾" / 68mm

Type:

Partially embroidered on blue twill. Merrowed edge with 'tail'.

Scarcity:

Unknown.

Value:

Unknown.

Notes:

This is a blue-bordered version of the small Type V patch. Image courtesy of Ron Goode.

Patch id:

Dallas Cap & Emblem patch

Worn by crew?

No.

Flown?

No.

Manufacturer:

Dallas Cap & Emblem

Distribution:

Unknown

Dimensions:

Body 3" / 75mm

Type:

Fully embroidered. Stitched border with cut edge.

Scarcity:

Unknown.

Value:

Unknown.

Notes:

Previously identified as Blue-bordered variant 4, this patch has been identified by Kenny Suit as having
been produced by Dallas Cap & Emblem. Its fully-embroidered background distinguishes it from the majority of vintage NASA logo patches.

Patch id:

AB Emblem NASA "worm" logotype patch

Worn by crew?

No.

Flown?

No.

Manufacturer:

AB Emblem

Distribution:

Commercial

Dimensions:

4X2" / 100X50mm

Type:

Fully embroidered. Merrowed edge.

Scarcity:

Common.

Value:

Retail.

Notes:

Although similar in appearance to the "worm" logotype insignia worn by the Shuttle astronauts this was not actually
the version used by NASA through to STS-27 at least. The crew-worn version had a distinctive vertically ribbed
pattern to the white fill thread whereas the AB version has regular fill.